Chapter 11

Ponyboy's POV

Randy crouched down next to me. "You okay Pony?"

"Yeah. Thanks for the help." I said, as I pushed myself up to my feet. Randy helped though.

"Why was your brother hurting you like that? I thought that you and him used to get along real well."

"We used to, but he changed. We don't no more."

"Yeah, I can see that." Randy chuckled a bit. "I punched him in the face before he left. His nose was bleeding pretty bad."

"Oh." I said sadly and looked at the ground. "He'll probably blame that on me."

Randy sighed. "Wanna walk around until you feel like going home?" I nodded, and we started walking around aimlessly. We didn't talk about that much, before I finally got the guts to go home.

"Thanks a ton randy. You saved my butt back there." Randy studied me fore a second and said, "How far do you think he would have gone if I wasn't there?"

I shrugged. "He was drunk, so there's no saying."

Randy looked at me sadly. "Well, I hope things between you and your brother get better. See you around Ponyboy." I waved to him, and started walking home. I didn't have any bruises on my arms, legs, or face. Soda was smart enough to only hit and kick me where the marks wouldn't show.

Darry's truck was there this time, and so I felt better about going in. I opened the front door, to fine Darry and Sodapop at the kitchen table. Darry was cleaning off Sodapop's nose, and they were talking in quiet voices. Darry saw me, and yelled, "What the heck Ponyboy?!"

I was still in the living room, but I took a step back. I was scared again. I knew why Darry was yelling at me, and so I just said, "I didn't hit him Darry."

"Well, someone did, and you two were home alone together. Clearly someone did. And he says that you did it Pony. You both changed. It's not just Sodapop. You're... You're different Ponyboy. You've changed too"

My eyes got watery and I shook my head. "That's not how it happened. You don't know the story Darry. That's not how it happened!" I started to yell as well but I didn't know why. Darry came into the living room as I took another step back.

"Pony, just sit down, and we can talk this over. I'm sure you didn't mean it." Darry reached out to me, but I jerked back. "Don't touch me." I stated and backed up a bit. Soda came into the living room too, but he was just staring at me with sad eyes that hinted at a bit of anger.

"Is this what you enjoy Soda? I covered for you. A while back, you punched me and made my nose bleed, not the Socs. You made me enter that drag race. You hit me in the bedroom. You set me up with the drugs after I caught you doing them, and I took the blame. You went to Buck's with your friends, yet I got grounded for trying to watch out for you. Today, you beat me up and Randy hit you... And you set me up."

I took another step back, and my back was to the front door. Darry gasped a bit, but took another step towards me. "Pony, you gotta speak up little buddy. Come sit down and we'll talk this out."

"No! I don't want to talk it out right now! Soda told me that i'm a pain to you, and I know I am, so I'm sorry! I won't bother you anymore!" I opened the front door, and looked at Soda. "I don't know why you're doing this, but I hope you're happy." I stood in the door frame for a second, looking at both of my brothers with watery eyes as the both looked back at me. "I might be back later." I hissed, before running out of the house.

I heard their footsteps behind me, but I continued to run. My leg burned though, so I had to slow down. Darry was faster due to my leg, so he caught me by the arm.

He turned me around to face him. At this point I had tear tracks running down my face. Sodapop was behind Darry, no more anger present in his eyes. I looked at Soda. "Pony I-" He said sadly, but didn't know what to say. Darry interrupted. "Pony what do you think your doing?"

"I'm sorry, but sometimes I just can't take it, and I feel like I gotta get out."

"Ponyboy, you know that y-" But he was interrupted by the sound of something rustling in the bushes. Suddenly, Sodapop's so called friends came out of the shadows. They must have ganged some allies, because there were six of them. They formed a big circle around my brothers and I, and started circling around us,pointing fingers at me and laughing.

Darry was furious, but he didn't know that these were Soda's friends. He thought that they were just kids that were laughing at me. "Leave him alone." Darry growled. A couple of them looked a bit frightened, but the rest didn't flinch.

"Does Pony seriously need his big brother to fight his battles for him?" One of them asked, and I became angry as well. Darry was surprided when he found out that they knew my name. "Come on Sodapop, and join our circle. Watch us teach Ponyboy a lesson that he'll always remember." Some of them snickered again and laughed.

To my surprise, Soda stood up for me. "This isn't his battle. It's mine. And I'm sticking with my brothers."

Some of them snickered. "Oooo. So that's how it's going to be eh? Well, that's okay." The one speaking looked at me. "You turned your brother against us Pony. This will be payback."

Yet again, Soda surprised me. He stepped in between me and the one speaking. "Jim, knock it off. Now."

Jim glared at Soda. "So that's it's? Your choosing that wimp over us?"

Soda glared back. "He's not a wimp. He's my brother, and I'll stick with him to the end."

Jim looked at the other people that were circling me and my brothers, then smiled at Sodapop. "Fine. Stick with your brother. You'll just go down with him then." Jim smirked at me, flipped out a switch, and yelled, "Kill him!"

Jim jumped on top of me, and tackled me to the ground. Darry took on 3 while Soda took on two. The switchblade was flung out of Jim's hand as we fought on the ground. "Greg!" Jim yelled, but I continued to fight him. I didn't know who Greg was, until another guy came over and pinned me down on the ground, and holding me still. I was laying on my back, and I was scared. He was one of the ones that were fighting Sodapop.

Greg had his hands on my shoulders, and he was holding me down. Jim got up and went over to the switchblade. I started squirming around and screaming. My eyes were watery and I was scared. Jim smirked at me and showed me the blade. "This is pay back Pony." He growled.

"DARRY! SODAPOP!" I screamed as loud as I could. After that, I felt a sharp pain in my stomach, and knew that it was the switchblade. It was the worst pain I had ever felt in my life. I started screaming, and saw that Darry and Sodapop were fighting harder then ever. Some of the guys had bloody noses and faces, so they started running.

The kids on Darry fled, and he caused the kid on Sodapop to flee as well. Jim and Greg were watching me. They had took the blade out though, so I was gripping my stomach, squirming around on the ground. Darry fought Jim and Greg while Sodapop crouched down beside me. His eyes were watery as he watched me squirm around. He placed his hands over mine on my stomach, and told me to try and calm down.

I looked at Sodapop's eyes, and in them I found the real Sodapop. I found fear, comfort, and now sadness. I saw no anger.

"It hurts Soda!" I cried, and continued to move around. My hands were full of blood, and so were Soda's now. He whispered to me, "Hey baby, you just gotta hold still, okay? try to hold still... Oh my God Pony i'm so sorry!"

"It's not y-your fault." I said. My stomach continued to burn, and I started crying.

Darry got Jim and Greg to run away, and crouched down by me and Soda. Soda looked at Darry with the saddest eyes. "Darry." He said in a heart broken voice.

"Soda, help me keep him still. We gotta stop the bleeding."

Soda said something, but I didn't hear him. I felt hands on my shoulders again and started freaking out. I thought that the person was going to hurt me again. I started squirming around more.

"Pony you gotta relax little buddy. Try to calm down." Came Darry's voice.

"No, no, no! I' can't! I can't! I can't!" I cried out. "It hurts! It hurts! Make it stop! Please make it stop, it hurts." My breathing slowed a bit and I finally stopped squirming. I was getting tired.

"That's it Pony. Just breathe. You'll be okay..." Came Sodapop's voice, but it was no longer filled with anger, but comfort. that was when I realized that Sodapop had changed again, but for the better this time. I looked up through my tears to see that Soda was now silently crying too, while trying to calm me down.

I started to get really tired, and I told Soda that I was tired. I really was.

Soda said, "Pony no. Try to stay awake. Pony, please don't go to sleep. Pony you gotta stay awake!" He said the last part louder since my eyes were fluttering open and closed. Black dots started to fill my vision, and their voices started to fade away. Soda continued to beg me to stay awake, but I just couldn't help it. I was just so tired.

Soda shook me a bit, and I closed my eyes then opened them again, before closing them and keeping them closed.

I heard crying and felt someone wrap their arms around me, holding me tight and pulling me up so I was leaning on them a bit. I knew that Soda was hugging me. Darry was gently touching my stomach and applying pressure to it, trying to slow down the bleeding, but it wasn't working.

I could still feel Soda's arms around me, and I felt safe.

There was darkness, followed by the sensation of floating. The pain was going away, until I felt nothing. After the nothingness, there was peacefulness.